THE WIND PHONE

We Nursed Our Broken Hearts in Black And White

Watching old films with Granny after Granddad passed

Julia_Elsie
The Wind Phone
Published in
4 min readJun 14, 2024

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A photo snapped of a TV screen, showing a scene from an old black and white Chinese movie.
I snapped a photo of the old black & white Chinese film I watched with my Granny to remember the evening (Photo by author)

After my granddad passed on, I started going over to my granny’s place for dinner and post-dinner movie sessions a few times a week.

Granddad and Granny were childhood sweethearts who spent their lives together. They had been married almost 65 years when he died. Together, they had built a formidable partnership and created a truly remarkable life.

They grew up as neighbours in a tiny, isolated village two hours away from the nearest city. There they chased chickens, scrapped with each other and played in the sand with the other village kids.

Everyone knew everyone; there were barely 50 people in the village. My granddad’s parents asked my granny’s parents if their kids should get married; Granny’s parents said yes, and that was that.

Granny often joked with me that she could have married someone richer and taller. She was the village beauty who had her pick. “But,” she added, “the problem is, that person wouldn’t have been your granddad.”

After they got married, they moved themselves out of their little village and into the city. The only place they could afford were two rented rooms in a dirty, dinghy…

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Julia_Elsie
The Wind Phone

Hello! I'm here to read and share stories about family, friendships, relationships and quirks of life as a woman in the 21st century.